⁷ Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth,^(A) because as nearest relative it is your right and duty^(B) to buy it.’

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth^(A) in the territory of Benjamin.

²¹ Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth^(A) who are threatening to kill you,^(B) saying, “Do not prophesy^(C) in the name of the Lord or you will die^(D) by our hands”—

²⁵ “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative^(A) is to come and redeem^(B) what they have sold.

¹³ So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴ Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵ He will show you a large room upstairs,^(A) furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

¹⁶ The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.^(A) Untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

⁴ They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway.^(B) As they untied it, ⁵ some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

⁵ But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”

³ Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.^{(A) 4} I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you^[a] will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you,^(B) and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,^(C) the^[b] dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”^(D)

⁶ At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem^(E) it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”^(F)

⁷ (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption^(G) and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal^(H) and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions^(I) in Israel.)^(J)

⁸ So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.^(K)

⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses^(L) that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.

² “Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in^(A) from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands^(B) around the towns.